- Hoegh Osaka ran aground in the Solent while carrying numerous British luxury vehicles.
- It includes quite a few Range Rovers, Jaguars, and Minis. When all was said and done back in January of 2015.
- The ship was stranded for 19 days and the case has since been used as an example of how things can go terribly by making a few critical errors at sea.
A recent news article published in the Motorious website reveals that a ship carrying numerous British luxury vehicles sinks.
Biggest and first mistake by the crew
Perhaps the biggest and first mistake made by the crew was allowing significantly more weight to enter the ship than what was originally estimated.
The blame for this mistake is likely spread among quite a few people, and that’s the most shocking part, it was a systemic breakdown instead of just one guy not paying attention.
What went wrong?
For example, the Land Rovers on the ship were listed as weighing two tons each, when the actual weight is far more than that.
All that extra weight left the Hoegh Osaka unstable as if left the port at Southampton, England and set off for Bremerhaven, Germany on January 3.
Like other car carrier boats, data about the weight of the cargo is often inaccurate
This means the actual stability condition of a ship isn’t calculated once the ship is loaded but before it sets off into open waters.
It is a tremendous risk which presumably hadn’t resulted in an accident until this one.
Other possible factors that led to this fatal incident
There was no stability estimation done after all the cargo was loaded on the ship, even though it was supposed to happen.
The chief officer of the ship falsified data for the ballast tank soundings.
He simply believed he knew how much ballast water was in each tank, not bothering to take actual measurements.
An expensive lesson
Tremendous cost of salvaging the Hoegh Osaka and its cargo should be an expensive lesson in following laws and protocols since they exist for a reason.
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Source: Motorious
